"Marinette, it's time to get up! You'll be late for your first day of dance! Master Fu has your breakfast downstairs," Tikki called.
"Gah!" I cried, sitting up. I ran to my closet and hurriedly grabbed out a pair of tights, a light pink leotard, and a jacket. While I dressed, Tikki did my hair up in pigtails.
"Bow?" She asked.
I frowned, then said, "No," I'd been teased about my bow in my old school, but I had never minded then because my friends always had my back. One time even, Nessie and Liam had made one of the boys wear a bow for the rest of the school day. Well, actually it had been Noah in disguise.
It was a long story, but after that, no one ever teased me about my bows again.
I smiled as I thought of them, but felt a painful thump in my heart.
Me and Tikki walked/flew downstairs.
I lived with Master Fu. Odd, right? Well, it made sense. For one, he was my great Uncle and had raised me since I was little. Not that my parents couldn't, but they were always working in the bakery. Besides, Master Fu homeschooled me. He had actually homeschooled all of us. Me, Liam, Nessie, Julia, and Noah.
We had of course gone to Dance-School together to learn all types of dances, what we loved the most. Besides, Master Fu kinda made us. He said our powers were stronger when we linked them to our passions. I had studied ballet, hip hop, break dance, tango (though that was 1 semester), swing, Celtic, tap, and waltz. Out of all those classes, I did ballet, hip hop, break, and waltz the most. I was somewhat decent at the others though. I could dance them to save my life, but I wasn't gonna win America's Got Talent with dancing them.
Anyhow, I lived with Master Fu because my parents were right next door along with the bakery, Master FU was my private teacher/coach, and his house in Paris had a few guest bedrooms. It all worked out.
In my parent's eyes, I 'earned' my wage by working for him. Master Fu's cafe was right below me, his studio was right above me, my room was above that, and the kitchen/family room area was in the middle. Anyhow, now that you got the backstory, we can go on.
Master Fu sat with a bowl of milk and cocoa powder, dipping in a croissant. I came and sat across from him, my bowl of chocolate milk ready for me. I took a set of chopsticks and began dipping fruit into the sweet liquid.
Once I was full, I grabbed my gym bag from upstairs. I had packed it last night and slung it over my shoulder now.
By the time I came back downstairs, Master Fu was waiting with his bag. He was teaching at the academy.
The academy I was going to was a very weird one. It taught dance classes as easily as it did English and Math...and alongside them too.
So, the school went from 6:00 am to 4:00 pm. I, of course, wasn't going to the classes like Science and Math, Master Fu had literally bought a room in the academy for that. He was going to teach me those things while I kept up with my Chinese, Karate, and most importantly, my 'training'. Tikki and I were still thinking up a cooler name for it.
It was basically a lot of physical and mental weird stuff I may one day have to face as Ladybug.
As Master Fu and I walked to the academy he explained how my day would go, "You will be in dance classes from 6:00-9:00, then have classes with me till noon. You will go to lunch, then straight to dance again for another two hours, though it will be paired with History and Literature as you dance. Then, you will come back to my studio for the rest of the day, till 2:30 when you must run to open the Cafe. At 9:00 you will gear up as Ladybug. I have a job for you tonight.
I nodded, but mentally sighed, days like this never seemed so long when my friends were around. But at least I had Tikki. She was currently hiding in my gym bag.
When we came to the Academy I gasped. It was huge! It went up at least four stories, and a mile long! (It was not really a mile long. Marinette's just really bad at estimating)
I stopped to look at the lovely building, but Master Fu just walked in. I hurried after him. He casually walked to an elevator that took us up to the third floor. Then, we walked down a long hallway to a bright red door. Master Fu took out a key and opened it. The room was about half as big as a standard school gym. So, pretty big.
There was a raised, carpeted section in the room where Master Fu went. Then, from his bag, he took out many pillows. (Master Fu has a thing for pillows. It's like an obsession) He sat on one, and started breathing deeply.
"Marinette. There is a panel on that wall. Please open it and put your stuff on it. Then begin stretching."
I was confused, but I walked over to the wall he had pointed at. When I touched it, immediately a platform was lowered. It came to about my wait, held by strong cables. I noticed there were four more panels like this, carefully hidden in the wall.
I turned away, knowing what they were for. Master Fu was already getting ready for me to choose a new team. He'd choose the first person as he had with Mayura. That had been me. But Mayura had chosen my friends, and then Master had chosen Liam.
I shook off the thoughts. I was not getting a new team. No matter what Master Fu said.
I took out my phone and hooked it up to Master Fu's speaker.
The song I picked was ballet, which was what Master Fu would be teaching here. I started stretching. I had thirty minutes before class started, so once I was nice and warm, I started a routine me and the gang had been working on.
Julia had been paired with Noah, and Nessie with Liam while I had danced solo in the middle, so I didn't have to change too much.
I put on the song we had chosen and started. As I danced, Master Fu made adjustments to my form all while keeping his eyes closed.
Finally, I got tired of trying to watch everything I was doing and closed my eyes.
Master Fu continued to correct, but less and less. When he hadn't corrected for a while, I ended the choreography earlier, posing.
Suddenly, there was applause, and my eyes shot open, and I fell back from my one footpoint stance.
I was on my back, hurting, but the clapping kept going.
When I looked up, I saw two kids. The first was a girl. She had brown eyes, tanned skin, glasses, a plaid gym bag, and a kind smile.
The second was a guy. He wore a red baseball hat, had glasses thicker than the girl's, tan skin, and a 'chill guy' smile.
Master Fu came from behind me and stood me up, "Marinette. These are some of your first classmates to arrive. Thank you for showing them what we expect in class."
I blushed greatly, "Sorry. I didn't know anyone was watching..." I said.
"Girl! Don't be sorry. That was amazing! How long have you been dancing? And who are you?" The girl asked.
I met her eyes. They were a warm hazel brown, "My name is Marinette. And, thank you. I've been dancing for..."
I looked at Master Fu from the corner of my eye. He nodded, so I said, "I've been dancing with a trainer since I was four."
The girl was dumbfounded, "Wow! And I thought I'd been dancing for a while. Since I was six and a half."
I smiled, "That's still really long. What's your name?" I asked politely.
"I'm Alya, and this is Nino," Alya said, gesturing to the guy.
I smiled, nodding at both, then stepped back, "Care to warm up?"
Alya nodded and strode in, Nino in her wake.
We sat down, and I started doing push-ups.
"Marinette, raise one leg and arm please," Master Fu called.
I nodded and managed to do it easily with a raised leg, but when I tried the arm too, I lost my balance.
I fell, but got back up and tried again. Then, I laughed at Nino's worried face, "You okay?"
Nino leaned in and whispered, "He's not gonna make us do that too, is he?"
I giggled, "No! He's my great uncle, so he likes to make sure I'm actually working. It's not warming up if it's easy. Well, that's what he says," I smiled, "You're safe. Just do like, fifty pushups, then move on to court jesters."
"Fifty!"
"Sixty if you like," I said, then giggled, "You remind me of my friend Liam. He always made the excuse of having to use the bathroom so he'd miss warm-ups."
Then, I frowned and remembered how I and Nessie had stood outside the bathroom for an hour trying to get him out. And the time we taped the door so he had to do warm-ups with us...Then the tears started.
Alya saw this, and stopped her pushups, giving me a hug, "Hey, you okay?"
I wiped my eyes, "Ya...I, I just moved here from Georgia...umm, from the United States of America. Me and my friends...we used to dance together. But, then I moved to my Uncle's job. I, I had to leave them behind."
Alya looked me in the eyes, "Hey, that's okay. I know how it can feel. My older sister just moved to the USA for better boxing options. She was my best friend."
I hugged her back, "Thank you."
"You know, for an American, you speak perfect French. I hardly even hear an accent," Nino said, totally killing the mood.
I laughed, "My parents are originally from here. My Uncle is my teacher and is trying to teach me every language known to man. But...languages aren't exactly my thing. But so far, I can do Japanese, French, English, Spanish, Irish, and I'm working on Chinese."
"What!" Nino and Alya said together.
I shrugged, "That's nothing, my friend Noah and Julia had like nearly twenty together!"
Nino and Alya were speechless.
Then, I remembered something, "Oh, don't tell anyone he's my great uncle. Some people have called me his favorite because of our relation."
Nino and Alya nodded.
Suddenly, other people started coming in.
Once me, Alya, and Nino finished stretching, I invited them to sit on my platform. So, we sat while we watched people come in, Alya introducing me to everyone.
Finally, the last three people came it. The first two came together. The one who was obviously the boss had long golden hair in a high ponytail. She wore a golden, black, and white leotard, with black tights. Her eyes were blue, but more a gray-blue. She wore much makeup and walked in like she owned the school.
The other girl to come in was a redhead, and wearing a simple purple leotard, with light pink tights. She carried the first girl's bag as well as her own.
Then, something happened that changed my life forever.
A boy walked in. He had golden hair, bright green eyes, a smile that melted my heart, and...I don't know. But I felt myself blush as he looked at me.
"Adrien!" Nino called.
The boy walked over, smiling.
"Yo Marinette, this is Adrien. His old man owns the place," Nino explained.
I gasped, then rummaged through my bag, making sure not to hurt Tikki.
I then pulled out a magazine, "This is you!" I said, pointing to a picture.
He blushed, "Ya."
"Adrien's a model. His dad doesn't just own the place, he's like the biggest fashion designer and critic in all of Paris," Alya explained.
I turned sharply to Master Fu. I couldn't believe where I was. Master Fu had gotten me into the most prestigious dance academy in all of France!
I hardly had words, but then I did. I remembered reading something somewhere, "Wait, do you really not to any hip hop or break dancing here?"
Alya clapped a hand over my mouth, "No. And neither do you. Got it? Don't want my new bestie to get kicked out of school!"
I gasped. So it was true...but why? I had so many questions in my mind.
"Ya, it's my dad's biggest rule, but we do every other kind. So, Marinette huh? You're new."
"Ya. I just moved here from the USA."
"Whew! Quite the plane ride I hear."
"You have no idea. I slept most of it though. The night before, me and my friends had a final dance performance," I said. For some reason, I was feeling very at ease with Adrien.
"Well, if they're good as you, then I would have liked to see that!" Alya said.
I smiled.
Then, Master Fu's voice rang out, "Class. Please take a seat."
We all moved off the platform, and to the front of the room.
"Nice to see you. I am your new teacher, Mr. Chu. Now, for those of you who came in late, please be on time tomorrow, but I noticed you did not warm up in class. Please start."
"Excuse me, Mr. Chu, I don't need to warm up, I've been dancing for three years now, I don't have to do that anymore," Said the girl with blond hair.
"Very well, Marinette, please stand," I was used to this, and did what he said.
"Ms. Bourgeois, please come to the middle of the floor," Master Fu said.
I felt bad for her. If she wasn't warmed up, this was gonna be bad.
Master Fu nodded at me, and I began. I started with several pirouettes.
The girl copied them with ease.
Then, I did a backhand spring landing in a split.
The girl followed the suit, but her split was well...awful. She didn't even come down halfway, but the fact that she did it was impressive.
As the girl got up, I whispered, "Just say your not warmed up, you do not want to do what's coming up next."
She smirked at me, "Oh, I'm sure."
I didn't like her.
So, I started with several pirouettes, then flipped over, and went on my toes, bringing my leg to my head, then flipped again, going into a back handspring, but stopping halfway, so I was in the air only supported by the arms, My toes pointed with grace, and my legs bent.
I slowly came down, and the class clapped.
The girl gulped but tried...really hard. She did the pirouettes, then flipped, but landed on her stomach. She still stood up and tried desperately to finish.
"That is enough Ms. Bourgeois. Please go warm up. Did anyone else who came in late 'warm up'?"
Then, Adrien raised his hand.
I looked pityingly at him as he walked towards the floor. When Adrien caught my look, he just grinned and gave a wink. Then before I could do anything, he had copied all my moves except the very last one.
I smiled. This boy was challenging me. Bring it on! I did the very last dance move from earlier.
He copied it, and I went on. Adrien continued to copy my moves. I moved at a faster pace, trying to get the better of him. We ended up going so fast that I ended up copying some of his moves, and other times we danced the same movements at the same time. Pretty soon, we were dancing in sync without even meaning to. Our talent clearly matched, Master Fu finally called out, "Thank you. That will be enough. If Mr. Agreste wasn't warmed up before he surely is now. You two go get water. Class, let us see what you know. Please take five minutes of free dance."
Adrien and I walked over to our stuff, grabbing out our water bottles.
Once I had enough to drink, I said, "That was amazing! I've never met anyone who could keep up so easily!"
"Same here. You're very talented."
"Thanks," I drank more water to hide my blush. Something told me this was going to be a very interesting day.